Wedding Invitation Scrollwork

Two very nice friends of ours are tying the knot this Saturday. When my wife received the invitation a month or so ago, she thought this would look great as a scrollwork and asked me if I could accomplish it.

Great idea for a gift!

It only took a few minutes to come up with the plans and start cutting. The only thing that presented a challenge was the lettering of the date – I wound up sizing the letters WAY too small and had to use a #1 blade to cut them.

Pic 2, of course, is the actual invitation.

Wood used is cherry. The piece measures 6 1/2×8 inches and is around 1/4” thick. I placed a 45 degree chamfer on all four edges to give it a more “classy” feeling.

Bob, this has got to stop. This looks looks it was cut with a laser controlled by a computer. How do you do it? Curious people want to see a video of you working or else we’re going to, we’re going to, uh, I don’t know, I guess just cry in our beer over your consummate skill.

Sheila, you KNOW I don’t like lettering – that made it even MORE of a challenge! ;-)

The reason lettering and me don’t mix is that it’s one of the few things in scrolling that absolutely demands that you pay perfect attention and ANY mistakes are easily noticed. It has to be nearly perfect – doh!

I like what’s called “artistic freedom” when I scroll – if I go off-line I just make it look like I tried it. ;-)

And Gene, I might just answer that challenge of yours and make a video of the next cutting I do – of course I’ll speed it up for the posting….... :-)

Well, not only is the lettering pretty darn perfect, but the candles aren’t too shabby either! You are quite accomplished. You are right though about having to keep concentration when cutting stuff like this. That is why sometimes the fancier the letter, the easier it is. The more turns and scrolls it has, the better it is to ‘disguise’ the little boo-boos that we may make. I find block letters the most ‘unforgiving’.